In the November 2013 edition of Esquire magazine, Stephen Marche has devoted his 'A Thousand Words' section to a piece titled 'The Popular Culture That is Actually Popular'. As a preface the criticism I am about to make of this article, let me say that 'A Thousand Words' is frequently my favourite section in what is easily the best men's magazine on the planet.
The central theme of Marche's essay is nothing new. It suggests that derivative, unimaginative tripe rates well on television while truly groundbreaking or innovative shows struggle to find an audience. His explanation for this seems to be that the unwashed masses are too stupid or too apathetic to appreciate something like Girls, which "spawned a cottage industry of thought pieces".
Now, elitist though they may be, I must admit some sympathy towards Marche's views. I have watched on with dismay over the past 10 to 15 years as reality television has spread through the free-to-air schedule like some noxious weed, choking out shows that actually require some talent and creative endeavour. I also share Marche's distaste for the cookie-cutter crime shows such as NCIS, which have about as much soul as an $80-a-night motel. In fact, I was cheering Marche along until he began to critcise The Big Bang Theory and suggested that "the jokes on The Big Bang Theory... aren't properly jokes at all... They're beat pauses before laugh tracks".
Had he been writing about one of Bang Theory's lame duck contemporaries such as 2 Broke Girls (a photo of which is used to illustrate Marche's story even though it is never mentioned), then I would have concurred wholeheartedly. I've tried several times to watch 2 Broke Girls, but every time it has arrived at a point where a punchline is delivered and it just hangs there like wet linen, no snap at all, the canned laughter only serving to highlight just how poorly written the joke was.
To suggest this is the case with Bang Theory indicates to me that Marche has watched only a smattering of episodes, and probably the more recent ones at that. I have a colleague who has studied the art of comedy and during a long beachside discussion one day he spelled out some of the mechanics for me. A relatively early episode of Bang Theory delivered a perfect example of one of the classic comedy 'archetypes', if you like:
Sheldon: Well, there's some value to taking a multi-vitamin but the human body can only absorb so much. What you're buying here are the ingredients for very expensive urine.
Penny: (sarcastically) Well, maybe that's what I was going for.
Sheldon: Well then you'll want some manganese.
In this case it's the switch in direction you don't see coming mixed with Sheldon's inability to understand sarcasm (a running joke - another of the comedy archetypes) that makes it work.
To suggest this sort of exchange somehow conforms to Marche's description of the show as one where "women are corn-fed blonds, whores or crones and the main characters have catchphrases like 'Bazinga!'" is to suggest the absurd. It is also insulting to the cast of Big Bang Theory, which I would rate as one of the strongest comedy line-ups in the past 30 years. Even Marche's mention of 'bazinga' betrays him as someone who has seldom watched the show; the catchphrase is not meant to be funny in and of itself, but rather it is amusing because it is a facet of Sheldon's character which is both imperious and child-like.
In fact, Marche's implication that the show is somehow dumbed down doesn't stand up to even the smallest scrutiny. I defy him to show me where a genuinely dreadful, brainless comedy like 2 Broke Girls or (going back to the 1980s, a watershed decade for brain-dead comedies) Perfect Strangers ever contained a an exchange such as this:
Leonard: Now that I’m actually about to go out with Penny, I’m not excited, I’m nauseous.
Sheldon: Ah, then your meal choice is appropriate. Starch absorbs fluid which reduces the amount of vomit available for violent expulsion.
Leonard: Right.
Sheldon: You also made a common grammatical mistake, you said nauseous when you meant nauseated. But go on.
The above dialogue was the reason I first fell in love with the show. I couldn't believe a modern day comedy would be intelligent enought point out the misuse of the word 'nauseous'.
In Marche's defense, I believe The Big Bang Theory has begun to jump the shark in recent seasons. When it stopped being a comedy about four nerds and a girl and started to be a show about dating, it lost some of its edge. And in a later episode, Sheldon himself misused 'nauseous' in a sentence. Ouch.
The early seasons, however, are nothing short of brilliant. That's why the show rated so well, Mr Marche, not because the proles will consume any old gruel doled out to them.